Method of mixing beverages



Malyf` 5, 1942. G. w. NEWTON METHOD OF' MIXING BEVERAGES 2 sheets-'sheet 1 Filed Feb. 6. 1940 Patented May 5, 1942 METHOD'OF MIXING BEVERAGES George W. Newton, Baltimore, Md., assigner to Crown Cork d.;` Seal Company, Inc., Baltimore, Md., a corporation of New York Application February 6, 1940, Serial' No. 317,584

l Claim.

The present invention relates to a method of mixing beverages.

In the bottling of soft drinks, it is usual to flow a charge of syrup into the bottle or other container and to then flow a quantity of carbonated water into the bottle. Because of the fact that the syrup is heavier than the water, the two liquids will not naturally mix but will tend to remains in strata in the bottle. This necessitates that the bottle be given bodily movements in order to mix the two liquids.

The manner of bodily moving bottles followed in most beverage mixing machines comprises tilting the bottle. Such movement is usually sulcient to uniformly distribute the syrup throughout the water, but in numerous instances a slight iilm of syrup adheres to the lower portion ofthe wall of the bottle.

It has recently been proposed to inspect bottles of soft drinks and other beverages by means of a machine including a photo-electric cell and for the purpose of detecting foreign bodies in the beverage. In these inspection machines the bottles are rotated merely suiiiciently to cause the contents to rotate, just before moving between a light source and a photo-electric cell, rotation oi the bottle then being stopped so that the contents will swirl and lift any foreign particles therein. In order that such machines may de'- tect extremely small foreign bodies in the beverage, they must be so sensitive to light that they will respond to the presence of a film of syrup on the wall of the bottle. Obviously, such inspection devices will also respond to stratum of dark syrup and colorless water. tion machines will reject any bottle having contents not of uniform color when viewed laterally, or which contains any dark area such as might be caused by a foreign particle.

It has also been found that such bodily movements of the bottle as are necessary to mix the water and syrup for beverage purposes, that is, thoroughly distribute the syrup in the water so that the beverage will be of uniform avor, agitate the beverage so violently that bubbles are f formed on the surface of the beverage and remain for a period of some minutes'. From an operating standpoint it is desirable that thev inspection machine be positioned in the production line and in advance of the point at which the l bottles are placed in cases. The bubbles referred to above ordinarily remain on the surface of the beverage at least during the time required for moving the container through the` production line, and for that reason an inspection machine beverage purposes.

cannotoperate with entire success in the production line.

It will be apparent from the above that an inspection machine cannot operate with entire success with the usual mixing machine because of the two opposing factors referred to above, i. e., the tendency of the ordinary mixing machine to (l) leavea nlm of syrupand (2) create bubbles in or at the surface of the liquid-L The present invention broadly contemplates a mixing method whereby the contents of a bottle will be mixed atleast suiiiciently for the purposes of the inspection machine, that is, to remove all syrup film from the wall 0i the bottle and make i the body of 1iquid within the bottle of uniform color or light transmitting characteristics when viewed laterally, but without creating bubbles, and even though, in some instances, the beverageA as thus mixed may not be inA condition for With such beverages as will not be thoroughly mixed for beverage purposes, it is desirable to move the container through the usual mixing machine after the container has moved past theinspection machine.

` An important object of the present invention is to provide a method whereby containers filled with liquids of diierent colors or weights will be mixed at least to the extent that their contents will be uniform in color or light transmitting qualities when viewed at a point laterally of the container.

A further object of the invention is toprovide a method whereby beverages will be mixed without formation of bubbles upon the surface of the beverage.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following specification and drawings, wherein:

Figure l is a plan view of a mixing apparatus;

Figure 2 is a. vertical sectional view through a bottle supporting'element of the apparatus;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary sectional view of a portion of Figure 2, and

Figure. 4 is a diagrammatic showing of a mixing and inspection system included in the present invention.

The numeral K01- designates the base of the mixing apparatus upon which is mounted a stationary table Il and a rotary table l2 which moves about the vertical axis formed by the post I3y extending upwardly from the base l0.

The stationary table I l is provided with a straight line conveyor M on which filled containers move from the left to an infeed dial l5 f which conducts them toward the vrotary table l2'.

about the edge of the rotary table I2, each container supporting element I9 including an upstanding bracket including a vertical sleeve 2| at its inner portion and a vertically arranged collar 22 at its outer portion. The collar 22 rotatably supports a bottle carrying platform 23 in such manner that the platform may rotate within the collar and may be removed from the collar for substitution of platforms to support bottles of different sizes. The structure of collar 22 and platform 23 illustrated in Figure 2 is of the type disclosed in my application for Mixing method and apparatus, Serial No. 282,871, filed July 5, 1939, Patent No. 2,216,090, issued September 24, 1940. However, it will be observed that the platform 23 is of circular form to function as a pulley and is preferably provided with annular grooves 23a adapted to be engaged by a driving belt as hereinafter described.

'Ihe sleeve 2l has a plunger 24 mounted within the same, which plunger is normally urged downwardly in the sleeve by a spring 25. The lower end of the plunger carries a roller 26. Anarm 2l is secured to the upper end of the plunger above the sleeve, which arm includes a vertically extending recess or pocket in which a bell 28 is rotatably mounted, the form of the bell 28 -being similar to that described in my above mentioned patent.

As best shown in Figure 2, the spring 25 will normally urge the plunger 24 downwardly so that a bottle may be clamped between the rotatable bell 28 and the rotatable platform 23. However, during the time when a container supporting element is adjacent the outfeed dial I6 and infeed dial I5, the roller 26 at the lower end of a plunger 24 will engage a cam track 30 formed at the outer edge of a fixed segment 3i secured to the upper end of the vertical post I3 with the result that the plunger 24 will be moved upwardly against the action of the spring 25 so as to raise the centering bell 28 out of engagement with the cap and upper end of the bottle. At about this time the bottle will moveinto engagement with the outfeed dial I 6 to be removed from the rotary table and, immediately subsequent thereto, a second bottle will be positioned upon the platform 23 by infeed dial I5, after which the roller 26 will move from cam 30 to permit the centering bell to move downwardly to clamp the bottle against the platform 23. l

An endless belt 33, preferablyof double V section, as shown in Figure 2,- has its inner run surrounding that portion of the path of movement of a container supporting element I9 during which a bottle will be clamped in a container supporting element. Belt 33 moves about a pulley 35 for driving the same and preferably positioned at the right-hand portion of the machine, the other end of the belt extending about an idler pulley 36 at the opposite side of the machine.' Intermediate these points the inner run of the beltwill be contactwth thev grocyes 23a in the bottle supporting pulleys or platforms 23, while the outer run of the belt will move about idler pulleys 3T rotatable upon posts, not shown, properly spaced about the base I0. Pulley 35 is driven by a belt 40 moving about a pulley 4I carried by a shaft 42 driven from a motor 43.

Motor 43 is secured to a plate 45 pivoted at 46 to the edge of the stationary table II. The motor pulley 4I is preferably of the type formed of two spaced tapered discs urged toward contact with each other by a coil spring. The angle of the plate 45 with respect to the stationary table I I nature .of the liquids in the container.

is adjustable by means of a rod or shaft 41 extending toward the front of the table. Swinging movement of plate 45 will vary the distance between the axes of the pulleys 35 and 4I with the result that the belt 4G will move about a different diameter of the spring pressed discs comprising pulley 4I, thereby varying the speed of the drive of belt 40 and-the container platform engaging belt 33.

If desired, the posts supporting the idler pulleys 3l as well as idler pulley 36 may be held under tension. However, since a like numb-er of container supporting platforms 23 will always be in engagement with the inner run of belt 33 there will be no substantial variation in the tension required upon belt 33.

It will be understood that the portion of the path of travel of the containers surrounded by the endless belt may be reduced.

In the operation of the machine, bottles are delivered to the successive supporting platforms 23 and then clamped in position by the descent of plunger 24. In the present embodiment, the platform will immediately thereafter come in contact with the inner run of the belt 33 so that the container will be repeatedly spun about its longitudinal axis. The speed of spinning imparted to the container may vary from 800 to 1600 revolutions per minute, though it will be understood that the speed of spinning may be without the above stated range according to the In any event, the speed of spinning must be such as to cause the liquids to be mixed to at least a sulficient extent that the mixture will be uniform when viewed from a point laterally of the container.

The belt 33, in the present embodiment, will be in engagement with a bottle supporting platform or pulley 23 until the latter cornes into close proximity to the outfeed dial IB but it is desirable that a friction block 50 be xed to the stationary table II adjacent the outfeed dial I6 to contact with each platform 23 so as to stop the spinning of the platform before the bottle comes into engagement with the outfeed dial I6 and the guide plate I 6a which substantially surrounds the latter and serves to direct the bottle from a platform 23 when the clamping arm Z'I lifts. It will be understood that the liquid within the bottle will continue to spin after the rotation of the bottle has been'stopped as described above. This subsequent spinning of the liquid with respect to the bottle, as well as the initial spinning of the bottle with respect to the liquid which occurs when a platform first comes into contact with the belt 33 has an important action in causing the syrup and other liquid to be wiped with respect to the bottle, thereby insuring that lroiotlm of syrup will be left upon the wall of the o e. f

' The spinniugaction imparted t0 the contents of a container by the present apparatus and method has the eiiect of causing the heavier liquid, i. e., the syrup, to be moved upwardly in the body of liquid in the container, so that when the spinning is completed, the contents of the container will be of uniform color or light transmitting qualities vertically of the bottle. With most liquid mixtures, a core of lighter liquid, i. e., the carbonated water, will extend centrally of the container, but this will of course be surrounded by a more thorough mixture of syrup and water. It is usually desirable to have the present spinning treatment of such duration that this central core of water containing a very small portion of syrup will be still in position when the spinning treatment is discontinued, because it is found that such gas as will be caused to rise by the present spinning treatment, will rise through this core and, since the water predominated core will have a low surface tension, the bubbles will immediately break.

Thus, it will be perceived that when the bottle moves on conveyor I4 from the present spinning mixer to an inspection machine, as indicated in Figure 4, the color of the liquid will be uniform along a line extending vertically of the bottle, that is, along its axis, when viewed from a point laterally of the bottle. Furthermore, the con tents of the liquid will be uniform across any cross-section of the bottle, a cross-section at any point vertically of the bottle comprising an inner core predominated by the water or other lighter liquid surrounded by an annular body of water containing a higher percentage of the syrup or other heavier liquid. In any event, when the bottle is moved through an inspection machine, because the bottle contents will be uniform vertically of the bottle, the bottle will not be rejected by the inspection machine unless it con tains some article of foreign matter. more, since no bubbles will be present upon the surface of the material, there can be no interference with the action of the inspection machine from such cause.

Further t will be obvious that, when desired, the usual inspection by an attendant may be substituted for an inspection machine.

If the liquid within the bottle does not become thoroughly mixed for beverage purposes during the treatment described above, a final mixer, as indicated in Figure 4, and of such type as to further bodily move the bottle, as by tilting, may be provided beyond the inspection machine. It will be understood that the inclusion of such a iinal mixer, when necessary, is a part of the total mixing method involved in the present invention.

The terminology used in the specification is intended for purposes of description and not oi limitation, the scope of the invention being indicated in the claim.

I claim:

The method of handling a glass container having therein a carbonated water and a colored syrup heavier than the water and with the syrup arranged in a layer beneath the water, comprising maintaining the container upright and spinning it about its longitudinal axis at a speed sufficient to cause the syrup to be distributed by centrifugal action against and upwardly along the side wall of the container to form a band in which the syrup will predominate and which will surround and partially mingle with a central column in which the carbonated water will pre dominate to give such column a low surface tension and thereby enable gas bubbles within the carbonated water to freely and promptly rise to the upper surface of such column and so that the band and column will extend from the lower portion of the contents to the upper portion thereof and the container contents will therefore be uniform in color when viewed along a line extending diametrically through the container, and then inspecting the container, while still maintained in said upright position, along a line extending diametrically therethrough from a point exteriorly of the container.

GEORGE W. NEVI TON. 

